By Dr. Joanne Gabbin, Professor of English, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is a case study of American society with its character and attitudes given through the eyes and from the point of view of Scout, an eight-year-old girl in Maycomb, Alabama. It is also her child's innocence and humanity that bridge many of these divided segments to begin to establish community. Scout's world is divided, segmented, and separated by social class, race, gender, age, and infirmity.
Social Class: Her world is made up of insiders and outsiders. The Maycomb women in the missionary society, the poor whites of Old Sarum, the African Americans in Calpurnia's church, and others represent an intricate pattern of classes.
Race: This southern town is defined by its racial system which is governed by Jim Crow ethics (patterns that give whites an awareness of privilege and blacks an awareness of powerlessness.) Note the power of the whites to define blacks by naming, as well as the need Calpurnia has to express herself in terms other than the Maycomb whites. Blacks have an intense awareness of their double consciousness as W.E.B. Dubois said: "...The sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity."
Note the reaction of the prosecuter, Mr. Gilmer, when Tom said that he "felt sorry" for Mayella.
The novel begins as the voice of a mature adult recalling events from childhood and sometimes shifts to the point of view of a six-year old. Did you notice the shifts occurring? If so, did you find them distracting? How are these perspectives - the knowing adult's and the innocent child's - developed in the narration? What advantages did the author have as a result of being able to move from one perspective to the other?
W. E. B. DuBoise speaks of "double-consciousness" - the sense of having to look at oneself through the eyes of others. Which characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are basically forced to look at themselves through the lens of others, being expected to behave as other people want them to behave?
Do you believe that the sense of "double consciousness" is still strong in our present society? That is, to what extent are people of different ethnicities, social classes, genders, and age levels essentially defined by others today? To what extent do you feel that you are forced to behave according to other's views of you? How are yo affected when others define you? Consider how the person doing the defining is affected.
Is some measure of "double consciousness" inevitable in human relations and in society? Why, or why not?
TKAM Point of View Activities
Point of View
RL 6
To Kill a Mockingbird
Point of View
“You never really understand a person
until you consider things from his point of view...
Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
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TKAM Allusions 4-7
The Divided World of TKM:
Key Observations for Consideration by Teachers
By Dr. Joanne Gabbin, Professor of English, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VAHarper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is a case study of American society with its character and attitudes given through the eyes and from the point of view of Scout, an eight-year-old girl in Maycomb, Alabama. It is also her child's innocence and humanity that bridge many of these divided segments to begin to establish community. Scout's world is divided, segmented, and separated by social class, race, gender, age, and infirmity.
Social Class: Her world is made up of insiders and outsiders. The Maycomb women in the missionary society, the poor whites of Old Sarum, the African Americans in Calpurnia's church, and others represent an intricate pattern of classes.
Race: This southern town is defined by its racial system which is governed by Jim Crow ethics (patterns that give whites an awareness of privilege and blacks an awareness of powerlessness.) Note the power of the whites to define blacks by naming, as well as the need Calpurnia has to express herself in terms other than the Maycomb whites. Blacks have an intense awareness of their double consciousness as W.E.B. Dubois said: "...The sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity."